SUCCESS AND INTRODUCTION INTO ENGLAND
Verdi's position assured--Selected to compose an _opera d'obbligo_--The
terms--_I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata_--Its _dramatis personæ_ and
argument--Reception at La Scala--A new triumph for Verdi--_I
Lombardi_ in London, 1846--_Ernani_--Political effect of
_Ernani_--Official interference--Verdi first introduced into
England--Mr. Lumley's production of _Ernani_ at Her Majesty's
Theatre--The reception of the opera--Criticism on
_Ernani_--_Athenæum_ and _Ernani_.
Now, at the age of twenty-nine years, was Verdi's future practically
assured. His ambition had been to produce an opera that would win the
applause of his countrymen. This was attained sooner, perhaps, than
Verdi expected it. With this desire more than fulfilled, the son of the
obscure innkeeper of Roncole was being talked of in the same breath as
the _maestri_ Donizetti, Mercadante, and Pacini. Would that his beloved
wife and children could have been with him to have shared this success!
A great honour was now to be his. By the vote of the La Scala Theatre
direction, Verdi was chosen to be the composer of the _opera d'obbligo_
for the Carnival time--that new opera which an _impresario_ is
bound, by the terms of his agreement with the municipality, to find
and produce during each season. Merelli conveyed the news to Verdi,
tendering him a blank agreement form and saying, "Fill it up; all that
you require will be carried out."
Verdi consulted Signora Giuseppina Strepponi, the young and attractive
tragédienne who had performed so admirably as Abigail in _Nabucco_ (she
afterwards became Madame Verdi). Her advice to the composer was to
"look out for himself," but to be reasonable, suggesting similar terms
to those paid to Bellini for _Norma_. Verdi asked, therefore, eight
thousand Austrian liri (£272 sterling), and the bargain was struck.
Within eleven months Verdi was on La Scala boards with his fourth
opera, a work which deserves lengthy notice because of the hold it has
always had over English audiences. Signor Solera had prepared what,
from an Italian point of view, was an excellent libretto, based upon a
poem by Grossi, covering the epoch of the First Crusade. The _dramatis
personæ_ of _I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata_ ran:
Pagano, Arvino, sons of Pholio, the Prince of Rhodes; Viclinda, wife
of Arvino; Griselda, daughter of Arvino; Acciano, tyrant of Antioch;
Sofia, his wife; Oronte, his son; Prior of the city of Milan; Pirro,
armour-bearer to Arvino; monks, priors, people, armour-bearers, Persian
ambassadors, Medes, Damascenes, and Chaldeans, warriors, crusaders,
ladies of the harem, and pilgrims.
The scene of the first act is laid in Milan; the second in and near
Antioch; the third and fourth near Jerusalem.
Briefly, its story or argument is this. Pagano and Arvino are the sons
of one of the Lombard conquerors of Rhodes. Pagano, deeply enamoured
with Viclinda, and enraged at her preference for his brother, attacked,
wounded him, and then fled his country. As the curtain rises, the monks
and the people are seen assembled before the Church of Ambrose, in the
island of Rhodes, to celebrate the return of the pardoned culprit. He
arrives, and his injured brother cordially forgives and embraces him.
But in the heart of the latter the same unquenchable feelings still
rankle. He once more meditates the destruction of his brother and the
possession of his sister-in-law. At night he invades, with an armed
band, his abode; but in the dark he mistakes his victim, and kills his
own father instead of his brother. Remorse takes possession of his
heart, and he flies to a wilderness in Palestine to expiate his crime,
and under the garb of a hermit he acquires a great reputation for
sanctity. Years of repentance have elapsed; it is the moment when all
Christian knights and princes have been summoned to the First Crusade,
and Arvino and his followers have landed in Palestine, obedient to
the call of Peter the Hermit. Here he soon hies to the holy recluse
(Pagano) in his mountain retreat, seeking from the hermit counsel and
consolation in his sorrows, for the Saracen chief of Antioch, in the
conflict, has carried away his daughter. Pagano, concealed by his garb,
promises a termination to his brother's sorrows which he knows he can
effect; for Pirro, formerly his squire and confidant, now a repentant
renegade, has promised to yield Antioch, where he holds a command,
to the Christian bands. In that city Griselda is immured; she is in
the harem of Oronte, but protected by his mother, Sofia (secretly a
Christian), and passionately loved by her son, who, under the double
influence of love and conviction, determines to become a convert to
her faith. Griselda forgets her Christian friends, and listens but
too fondly to the vows of her Saracen lover; but Antioch is betrayed
to the Christians, led by Arvino and Pagano; all the Saracens are put
to death; and Griselda, by her lamentations over the fate of her true
lover, brings down on her head the wrath of her father. In the retreat
where she has taken refuge from his anger, her lover, Oronte, who has
escaped from his enemies, reappears in the disguise of a Lombard.
The lovers fly together, but being pursued by the Christians, Oronte
receives a fatal wound; Pagano comes and takes him to his cell, and
there the Saracen prince dies a Christian convert; whilst Griselda in
her despair, through divine interposition, is consoled by a vision of
Paradise. Pagano, who has become the guardian spirit of his injured
brother, accompanies him to the siege of Jerusalem, and is wounded to
death in defending him. As he dies, he removes his cowl and reveals his
name. His death forms the final catastrophe of the opera.
On the 11th February 1843, crowds were flocking to the Milan Theatre
to hear _I Lombardi_--the new opera by the composer who had driven
the remembrance of Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini from the heads of
the Milanese. Unusual interest was aroused because the authorities,
suspecting political suggestions, had sought to stop the representation
of the opera. The people even brought their provisions with them, and
when the moment for the performance came, a frightful odour of garlic
pervaded the theatre! The patriotic subject pleased everybody, and
the rendering had not proceeded far before undoubted expressions of
approval issued from all parts of the house. The feverish audience
detected readily exact analogies to their own political circumstances.
Verdi, "saviour of his country," as some would have it, had kept up the
sentiment of the _Nabucco_ music--a sentiment which had an unmistakable
revolutionary flavour and ring, soon to be mightily emphasized--and the
issue was never in doubt. Soloists, chorus, and orchestra quickly had
their feelings echoed by the Milanese public at large.
Another triumph. Moved by the stirring music and the unstinted
exertions of the principal singers, Signora Frezzolini and Signori
Guasco and Derivis, the auditors were so overcome that they re-demanded
number after number. The clamouring for the quintet was such that the
police interfered and would not suffer it to be repeated; then the
chorus, "_O Signore dal tetto natio_," in the fourth act brought the
listeners once more to their feet; nor would they be appeased until
they had heard it three times.
If only for its fortuitous association with the awakening of
Lombardo-Venetia to a sense of national unity and independence, this
opera must always be interesting. But _I Lombardi_ abounds in vocal
treasures, and contains some of Verdi's best early work. Take, for
instance, the lovely tenor _cavatina_ "_La mia letizia infondere_," and
the _cabaletta_ "_Come poteva un angelo_," which Oronte sings in scene
2 of the second act, and which Signor Gardoni used to render with much
charm and beauty of voice. Little wonder that such melodies and music
predisposed the Italians towards the new young musician.
_I Lombardi_ was certainly an advance upon _Nabucco_. Apart from its
political associations, it contained vocal and instrumental attractions
which the public were justified in expecting from the composer of
_Nabucco_. It met with a _succés d'estime_ only on its production
in London, but this had more to do with party feeling in operatic
matters at the time than with the actual merits of the work. The new
and striking properties which distinguished _Nabucco_ were still more
marked in _I Lombardi_--so much so, indeed, that it has survived many
operas and can be listened to with pleasure to-day.
In the 1846 season--Tuesday the 12th March--Mr. Lumley gave the
subscribers of Her Majesty's Theatre _I Lombardi_, with the artists
Grisi, Mario, and Fornasari, and scenery and dresses which at the time
were considered unsurpassed. It was the first performance of Verdi's
new opera in this country.
"Here was again a success!" writes Mr. Lumley; "nay, a great and noisy
success--but yet a doubtful one. After the comparative unanimity with
which _Nabucco_ had been received, it seemed necessary for the forces
of the opposition to recommence the attack against a school which
now threatened to make its way with the town. Party spirit on the
subject was again rife. Whilst, by the anti-Verdians, _I Lombardi_ was
declared to be flimsy, trashy, worthless, the Verdi party, and the
adherents of the modern Italian school, pronounced it to be full of
power, vigour, and originality. The one portion asserted that it was
utterly devoid of melody--the other, that it was replete with melody of
the most charming kind; the one again insisted that it was the worst
work of the aspirant--the other, that it was the young composer's
_chef d'œuvre_. And in the midst of this conflict--so analogous
to the old feud between the parties of Gluck and Piccini--public
opinion, as usual, seemed undecided and wavering, uttering its old
formula of, "Well, I don't know." The music, too, was weighed down by
a rambling, ill-constructed, uninteresting libretto; and it is really
difficult, under such conditions, to sunder the merit of the musical
"setting" from the merit of the text. _I Lombardi_, however, was played
frequently, and to crowded houses."[11]
_I Lombardi_ speedily travelled over Europe. As we have seen, it soon
reached England, and having been adapted for the French stage, it was
produced on the 26th November 1847 at the Grand Opéra of Paris under
the title of _Jérusalem_. In its new garb, it was a failure, despite
splendid singing and effective scenery. What a farcical proceeding,
then, to attempt to foist this version upon the Italians under the name
of _Jerusalemme_!
It is not surprising that Verdi was now sought after by _impresarii_
and managers, ever on the outlook for talent and a work that may
restore the too often distorted fortunes of a theatre. More than one
European manager was beseeching him; but eventually the management
of the Fenice theatre secured Verdi's next opera. This proved to be
_Ernani_, produced on the 9th March 1844. Verdi chose his own subject,
and entrusted Victor Hugo's drama to Piave, who subsequently became
the composer's permanent librettist. The result was a tolerably good
book, which Verdi set in happy vein. Its first night decided its
fate. _Ernani_ was received with unstinted admiration and approval.
The artists who created the parts were Signora Loewe (Elvira), who
quarrelled with Verdi about her part; Signor Guasco (Ernani); and
Signor Selva (Silva), the latter a singer whom the noble who owned
the Fenice thought unworthy to appear on his boards, despite Verdi's
recommendation, because he had been singing at a second-rate theatre!
During the nine months following the first performance of _Ernani_, it
was produced on no less than fifteen different stages.
One or two episodes--amusing, if vexatious--attended its production.
The police got wind of some exciting element in the opera, and stepped
in at the last minute, objecting to several numbers, and refusing to
allow a sham conspiracy to be enacted on the stage. Verdi had to give
way and face the additional work and trouble; yet, after all, the
Venetians got political capital out of the work, and when the spirited
chorus, "_Si ridesti il Leon di Castiglia_," burst forth, their
patriotic feelings overcame them. Another incident had to do with
artistic principle. In the last act Silva had to blow upon the horn;
but a susceptible aristocrat could not bear the idea, and remonstrated
with the composer, urging that it would desecrate the theatre!
_Ernani_, as we have remarked, was the work by which Verdi was first
introduced to the British public; and it is, therefore, of especial
interest to English readers. It involved a dispute among musical
people such as has only been equalled by the famous Gluck and Piccini
feud (1776) just referred to, or that great controversy engendered by
Wagner's music and doctrines, the wrangle that gave us the term "music
of the future," that spiteful innuendo which the enemies of the master
invented to indicate the fit location of his music, and which epithet
Wagner himself adopted as exactly describing an art and teachings which
a debilitated and distempered age was too feeble to understand.
No one was more concerned in this musical stir than the zealous and
assiduous Mr. Lumley, who had his heart and fortune in the affairs of
the opera-house, Her Majesty's Theatre:--
Industrious importer! who dost bring
Legs that can dance, and voices that can sing,
From ev'rywhere you possibly can catch 'em;
Let others try, they never yet could match 'em.
The stumbling-blocks were the bigoted lovers of the old school, who,
dissatisfied with all that had been given them, were, like that hero
in fiction, always clamouring for "more," which, when obtained, they
always pronounced unsatisfactory. "The season," states Mr. Lumley, "was
announced to open with the _Ernani_ of Verdi, a composer as yet unknown
to the mass of the musical English public. But he had been crowned
triumphantly, and had achieved the most signal successes in Italy.
_Ernani_ was generally pronounced, at that period, one of the best, if
not the best, of his many applauded operas. It would have been strange
if the announcement of the first production of one of Verdi's works
upon the Anglo-Italian stage had failed to excite the attention and
interest of the musical world. At all events, it was the duty, as well
as the policy, of the management to bring forward the greatest novelty
of the day. Novelty sure to be called for with indignant remonstrance
if _not_ laid before the subscribers, however it might be scouted
(according to custom) when it did make its appearance.
"After some unavoidable delay, the season opened on the 8th March
(1845) with the promised opera of _Ernani_. That it excited the general
enthusiasm awarded to it so lavishly in Italy cannot be asserted;
that it was a failure may be emphatically denied. The general result
of this first introduction of Verdi to the English public was a
feeling of hesitation and doubt; or, as some one drolly said at the
time, the 'Well, I don't know's' had it! The English are tardy in the
appreciation of any kind of novelty, and the reception of Verdi's opera
was only in accordance with the national habit. It is well known that a
taste for this composer's music has survived all the opposition of an
earlier period, and that he is now generally popular among the musical
amateurs in this country. Whatever their intrinsic merits, his operas
have achieved a widely-spread success, as provincial theatres and
music-halls can testify throughout the land; and there can be no doubt
that, whatever his alleged shortcomings in some respects, he has at
command passion, fire, and strong dramatic effect.
"On the first production, then, of _Ernani_, the public seemed as yet
unprepared to give a verdict of its own as to the merits of the young
composer, now first placed in England on his trial."[12]
The principal singers at this first representation in England
were--Madame Rita Borio, _prima donna_; Moriani, the tenor; Signor
Botelli, baritone; and Fornasari, as the old Castillian noble. The
audience, if not the critics, were delighted with the work. The
characters so musically individualised, the new and attractive
orchestration, the _motivi_ distinguishing the singer, the perfect
_ensemble_, the well-proportioned whole opera--all these thoroughly
Verdinian characteristics were seized upon and admired. "Encore
followed encore from the rising of the curtain.... Solos, duets, and
trios were applauded with equal fervour, but the concerted pieces
created the most surprise and admiration.... The _ensembles_ possess a
novelty and an impassioned fervour unprecedented."[13]
In a retrospect of the season's opera, a talented critic wrote of
_Ernani_ as follows:--"We were then introduced to a composer engaging
in Italy surprising popularity, one whose works have been brought out
at almost all the great continental theatres, whose productions in his
native country met with the most enthusiastic admiration--Verdi. It
cannot, therefore, be wondered at that the present able management of
Her Majesty's Theatre should have fixed upon the works of this composer
to bring before the English public. _Ernani_ did full justice to its
brilliant reputation. It presents the real type of the lyrical tragedy,
where feeling finds its appropriate expression in music. Musical judges
allotted to it the palm of sterling merit, but the leaning of public
taste was against the probabilities of its obtaining here the high
favour it has elsewhere enjoyed.
"The meritricious sentimental style of the modern school to which, of
late years, we have become so accustomed was a bad preparation for the
full appreciation of such work as this. _Ernani_, however, at first
only half understood, gradually worked its way into the public favour,
and was given a greater number of times than any opera of the season;
finally, it might be pronounced completely successful; but yet, on the
whole, the result of the production of this opera was not such as to
encourage the management to substitute another work of this composer,
_I Lombardi_, for more established favourites. We are sorry for this;
we grieve to see in the English musical public so little encouragement
for novelty in art, and an unwillingness to patronise works which
have not received the sometimes questionable fiat of approbation from
the audiences of former seasons, not a whit more infallible than the
present. English audiences will rarely judge for themselves in matters
of art. They wail that Fashion should have openly set her seal on works
which should claim a fair and unbiassed judgment.
"At present Verdi is the only composer of real and sterling merit in
that land of song (Italy); for though Rossini still lives, his pen is
idle, or only occasionally employed on short compositions of a totally
different nature from those with which he has for years delighted the
world.... Donizetti, his successor, is silent. Should _Ernani_ or any
other work of this young composer be brought forward next year (1846),
its success will probably be far more decided; for attention has become
awakened on this point, and a purer musical taste is gradually forming
in England, as elsewhere."[14]
_Ernani_ was brought forward in the following year, when one among the
few critics not antagonistic towards Verdi wrote as follows:--
"It was with much pleasure that we heard _Ernani_ again. This opera is
of that stamp which constantly gains upon the mind. The two _finales_
of the first and second acts are _chef d'œuvres_ of composition.
When the ear has become sufficiently accustomed to their sounds to
follow the varied melodies introduced to them with such wonderful
skill, the effect is indescribable. The sensations called forth by
such music as this, when listened to with unswerving attention, are
far more profound, though of a different nature, than those elicited
by the hearing of the most pleasing melody. Combinations of the human
voice and of instruments must always, if skilfully managed, produce
a powerful effect, and this is especially the case with these two
_finales_, in which every bar has a meaning, and in which consequently,
at each hearing, some fresh beauty is revealed.... The duet between
Ernani and Elvira, the trio at the end of the opera, and the aria
'_Ernani involami_' are also deserving of much admiration."[15]
_Ernani_ was conceived in much the same vein as _Nabucco_ and _I
Lombardi_. It was on the continental Italian opera lines, as seen in
the operas of his countrymen before him. The personality of Verdi was
somewhat more emphatic, but the national model had not been left either
in form or in expression. "Full of plagiarisms as was every number of
that opera," records one of the divided, distracted critics, "it took
more or less with the public because of the large amount of tune with
which it abounded, whilst the constant succession of passage after
passage in unison excited some degree of curiosity on account of its
novelty."[16]
Undoubtedly _Ernani_ was an advance upon _Nabucco_ and _I Lombardi_.
In 1848 this opera came again under the notice of the censor of the
Athenæum, but it did not tend to alter his views respecting Verdi
musically.
"It is not many years," we read, "since Signor Verdi was in this
country, among the myriad strangers who are attracted by the 'season,'
struggle vainly for a hearing, and retire unnoticed.... For new melody
we have searched in vain; nor have we even found any varieties of
form, indicating an original fancy at work as characteristically as
in one of Pacini's or Mercadante's or Donizetti's better cavatinas.
All seems worn and hackneyed and unmeaning.... '_Ernani! Ernani!
involami_,' is a song of executive pretension, written apparently for
one of those mezzo-soprano voices of extensive compass which poor
Malibran brought into fashion. There is a good deal of what may be
called pompous assurance, both in the _andantino_, and in the final
movement, and an accomplished singer could doubtless work an encore
with it. Signor Verdi's concerted music strikes us as a shade worthier
and more individual than his songs.... We cannot conclude these brief
remarks, incomplete for obvious reasons, as a judgment, without saying
that flimsy as we fancy Signor Verdi's science, and devoid as he seems
to be of that fresh and sweet melody, which we shall never cease to
relish and welcome, there is a certain aspiration in his works which
deserves recognition, and may lead him to produce compositions which
will command success."[17]
This could hardly be styled encouraging criticism on a work which had,
and has since been received with the greatest success throughout Italy,
in Paris, and in London, and which has enjoyed a legitimate and fairly
enduring popularity, remembering always how changeable a thing opera at
its best is. Adolphe Adam, writing of _Ernani_ in Paris, has said, "Of
all the operas of Verdi represented in Paris, _Ernani_ is the one which
has obtained the most success. I cannot say why, for I am quite as fond
of the others, and I do not think this success is to be attributed
especially to the excellent execution it has received."[18] The obvious
and only conclusion being that the music itself was the true operating
force.
[Footnote 11: _Reminiscences of the Opera_, p. 148.]
[Footnote 12: _Reminiscences of the Opera_, p. 102.]
[Footnote 13: _Illustrated London News_, 15th March 1845.]
[Footnote 14: _Illustrated London News_, 23rd August 1845.]
[Footnote 15: _Illustrated London News_, 21st March 1846.]
[Footnote 16: _Musical Recollections of the Last Half-Century_, vol.
ii. p. 162.]
[Footnote 17: _Athenæum_, 26th February 1848.]
[Footnote 18: _The Life and Works of Verdi_ (Pougin--Matthew), p. 169.]